Air India on Tuesday sought to downplay the controversy involving Congress Rajya Sabha MP Renuka Chowdhury​ who arrived late for boarding one of its flight from here, as she was allegedly "busy shopping", which resulted in delayed departure and resentment among 276 flyers onboard.

The Air India pilot who assaulted an engineer posted at the Chennai Airport on Saturday morning has reportedly been derostered, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought an inquiry report on the incident, even as the union representing the engineers at the airport are demanding justice.

Taking forward its ongoing probe into the Sunanda Pushkar death case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Delhi Police is reported to have questioned the crew of Air India flight on which Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and his deceased wife had an altercation on January 15 last year.

C and strategic analyst, Commodore (retired) C Uday Bhaskar, on Sunday said the government must take the hijack threat received at the Air India office in Kolkata very seriously because the Kandahar hijack incident of 1999 had proved to be humiliating for the country.

In an alleged violation of aviation safety norms, a daughter of a senior Air India executive travelled in the bunk which is only meant for resting of flight crew members as per the DGCA norms, during one of the airline's flight to Newark recently.

Days after a Delhi-bound Air India flight with 164 passengers on board had to abort its take-off due to a bird hit at Goa airport, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has asked the state government to remove garbage heaps lying around the facility.